Human Transformation : my experience from Plum Village, a mindfulness practice center

An excerpt from the book chapter: Being as the New Paradigm

“This human transformation, this change of story we are calling for, is something I get to hear and see every day here in the Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Center through many individual examples. People come here and often quickly relate to what is written on the main bell tower in four languages: “I have arrived; I am home.” They connect to themselves, to their true home, seeing in the community the possibility of a very different way to relate to each other and to the Earth. Some of them, often unexpectedly, choose to stay weeks, months, years here. When we first came here, it took my wife and me two days to realize that something really special was happening, something we wanted to be part of. It is not that people become enlightened and transform themselves in a day, but getting in touch with our true nature, our real needs, and Politics of Being following a spiritual path and practice, or simply letting our own deep wisdom guide us, is something that can make a tremendous difference in our lives and the world.

As our teacher Thich Nhat Hanh said:

‘We need a collective awakening. [ … ] Awakening about what? When we breathe and bring our mind back to our body; when we are truly there, body and mind united, there is already awakening. We know that we are alive, we are present and life is there for us to live. That is already a kind of awakening. So awakening is not something very far away. [ … ] Being in the present moment, we recognize that there are so many wonders of life that are in us and around us. And if we know how to get in touch with these wonders of life, we can get the nourishment and the healing right away, and peace and happiness can be possible right away. With mindfulness, you can realize that you already have more than enough conditions to be happy. “You don’t have to struggle anymore, you don’t have to run into the future anymore, you don’t have to look for happiness elsewhere and in the future because happiness is possible in the present moment. That is the teaching of the Buddha [ … ], living happily right in the present moment. And that is a practice that can help many of us to release our craving, our anger, our fear. [ … ] With a collective awakening, we can stop the course of destruction of our societies and of the Earth. With awakening, we don’t think anymore that more power is needed for us to be happy, more wealth, more sex, more fame is needed.’”